Chapter One

       Two weeks later

      Some days started off right, then took a wrong turn. The minute Pete Brannigan walked into his ranch-house kitchen, he discovered this would be one of those days.

      “Daddy!” his five-year-old daughter, Rachel, exclaimed. “Can Mama come to my graduation?”

      His nanny and housekeeper, Sharon D’Angelo, turned from inspecting the contents of the refrigerator. The brief glance he exchanged with her held an entire conversation. They both knew the question wasn’t could his ex-wife fly home for this milestone in her daughter’s life, but would she?

      “Good morning to you, sweetheart.” He ruffled Rachel’s wavy blond hair—so like her mama’s—and reached over to the high chair to chuck his two-year-old son, Eric, under the chin. “And you, too, little man.”

      Eric gurgled something and handed him a soggy piece of cereal.

      “Do you think Mama will come to see my graduation, Daddy?” Rachel asked.

      He took his seat at the kitchen table beside her and said carefully, “I’m sure if she’s not working the day you graduate, she’ll be here.” Not an outright fib. He would never lie to his kids or to anyone. Anyway, who knew what his ex-wife would do. Marina might take time from her jet-setting, fashion-model career to think of the kids she’d left behind. Although, as history had already shown, it didn’t seem likely.

      “Miss Loring said we get our invitations today. I’m inviting you and Mama and Eric and Sharon.” She counted off on her fingers. “And Tina and Robbie and Paz.” Tina was one of his boss’s granddaughters. Robbie and Paz were Tina’s son and grandmother. “And Bingo, too.”

      Smiling, he shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll let ponies into the school auditorium.”

      “Why?”

      “They won’t fit in the chairs.”

      “Oh. Well, I’ll show Bingo the pictures later.”

      When Sharon held up the coffeepot, he nodded his thanks. He had long ago had a solitary breakfast here in the kitchen while she and his children still slept. As manager of Garland Ranch, he started work at an early hour, but as often as he could, he made it his business to get back to the house to see his daughter before she left for school.

      “What about Grandpa Jed?” he asked Rachel.

      “Of course Grandpa Jed,” she said, rolling her eyes as if Jed Garland’s presence at her graduation was a given. And it would be. “He wants to come, too, right?”

      “Sweetheart, he wouldn’t miss it.”

      Jed had always treated Rachel and Eric as if they were his own grandkids. Heck, from the time Pete had come to work as a wrangler here on the ranch, fresh out of high school, the old man had treated him like one of the family.

      A couple of years ago, when Marina had taken off to seek fame and fortune, she’d left him to raise a three-year-old and a newborn alone. Jed had promptly promoted him into the vacant ranch manager’s position, which included the manager’s quarters, and increased his salary enough that he could comfortably pay for a live-in nanny to help take care of his kids.

      “I have to save one for Grandpa Mark, too,” she said.

      Jed had always treated him better than his own father ever had. Now, though the man remembered the kids at birthdays and Christmas, his busy schedule kept him from visiting frequently. Rachel was aware of this, which was probably why she had given Jed top billing.

      “And can I invite Jane and Andi to come, too?” A couple more of Jed’s granddaughters. “And Missy and Trey?” Andi’s two kids.

      “I think they might all have gone home by the day of your graduation,”